How Apple And Google Allegedly Screwed Their Employees Out Of Billions Of Dollars For Years

Imagine you're unhappy in your job, and you're looking to switch
companies. In tech, this is usually pretty easy: Companies are so
desperate for engineers and software developers that you're bound
to be able to walk into a position at a similar, competing
company.

Now imagine that your boss had made phone calls and sent emails
to prevent you from working at a competitor. In fact, your boss
had, for years, been making sure that any company that might be
interested in hiring you won't come anywhere near you.

Let's say one of these emails from your boss told other companies
"that means war" if they approached you.

You'd be pretty angry. Your boss is basically trying to screw you
out of a new job.

Now imagine that this went on for the better part of a decade,
and the agreements were between Apple, Google, Intel, and dozens
of other tech companies.

In fact, this did happen, according to
a massive antitrust class action lawsuit that claims Apple,
Google and others secretly colluded to keep down the salaries
of tens of thousands of tech workers by agreeing not to recruit
from each other's companies. It affects 64,000 Silicon Valley
workers whose lost wages add up to $3 billion. If the case goes
to trial and the companies lose, damages could be tripled to $9
billion. Initial small settlements have resulted in cash payouts
of $20,000 to each affected employee.

So far, the litigation has not favored the companies. They
entered a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2010
which required them to stop the collusion. In the class action
suit,
a judge has already agreed the case merits class action
status. That is a crucial hurdle in the case because the
technical definition of a "class" is often difficult to meet. The
fact that the class has been approved suggests the judge is so
far unimpressed with the company's defense.

The litigation has also been humiliating for Apple. Lawyers for
the company have tried to persuade the court that Jobs emails
should be excluded from the case
because they make him look like a bully. But that's what the
entire case is about: whether Jobs bullied Google into not hiring
his people. Emails from Brin suggest that's exactly what
happened. They show
Brin complaining that an "irate" Jobs kept calling him until
he agreed to fire a Google recruiter who was trying to poach
Apple staff.